Sunday, March 28, 2010

Redeclared

David was a very interesting guy. An American, he was born in Rhodesia to American Missionary Parents. Returning to the States, he got his college degree and met and married his sweetheart Janie.

David and Janie returned to Africa and did their missionary work until they began their family, and returned to the states to raise said family and teach in Public Schools.

I met David and Janie at my Mom's monthly church luncheons a year or two back. Dave fascinated me. He was a real Weather Geek just like me. Only all of his hands-on experience was from Central Africa. We'd get to gabbing over the monthly luncheon, and the time flew by. Gardening enchanted us both, and skiing. We held similar political philosophies as well. We're Conservatives who believe in America's Founding Principals. It's funny...I marched in the streets in the 60's, but some would brand me a Redneck Hippie today...well, whatever.

David who was nearly Eighty years young fell and broke his hip last month. We missed him at the Luncheon. I called the tiny redheaded firecracker Jackie, who organizes and caters the Church Luncheons (and does all the planning and decorating, publicity...etc) to get Dave and Janie's snail mail address so I could chide David into limping in to next month's soiree. She broke the sad news to me...David caught pneumonia in the hospital and never rallied. Another death by contagious hospital...

While I was on the phone with Jackie, I watched President Obama sign his Healthcare Takeover Bill on TV (with the sound off) Later I caught the replay where Obama droned on about the 100 years the Progressives have tried to "give all Americans Universal Healthcare"

In my estimation, it took the Progressives 100 years before the stars aligned enough to put this sham past the American People, despite the fact that almost 70% didn't want what Obama and the rest of them were peddling!

Should this travesty clear the Constitutional challenges and become law, the Federal Government will exercise total control over one half of America's economic engine! There's been a lot of noise coming from the Tea Party side calling this Socialism. I beg to differ, it's Fascism...textbook Fascism. Ask Mussolini, look it up. Top-Down central control of the markets has never worked throughout history...never...not once.

The troubles with America's Healthcare Sector are NOT a result of under-regulation. The burgeoning of Healthcare costs can be traced linearly to Government meddling in the Medical Markets...going back to the Post-War wage controls imposed by the Truman administration.

Hoping to stave off a wave of wage inflation when our returning armed forces rejoined the workforce, wage controls were instituted, so the employers instead offered medical benefits instead of higher wages. Today, 85% of Workers get their Health Insurance from their employers. Third Party Payers take the consumer out of the equation, stifling efficiency of the market.

I remember our Family Doctor made lots of House Calls when I was little. Dr Lewis would come look at us kids, reassure Mom, and she would write a check to Dr Lewis for around $20! Today that would come to around $80...House Calls ended when Medicare came into being as part of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. That was the second big disturbance in the healthcare market.

Next up? Senator Kennedy's creation...HMO's...more upsetting of the market. Today, even before the President signed, a full 50 cents of every healthcare dollar spent in America is spent by Government!

So, here we are. the final nail in the Medicine Market's coffin. It's a sad day...stay tuned!

2 comments:

The red neck right winger's histrionics over something that should be an inalienable right for every citizen are pathetic.

I'm saddened by the loss of your friend. But, would he have even lived to 80 without the assistance of the advances in clean water, medical technology and care that have been provided to all citizens through the efforts of public institutions for the past hundred years?

Perhaps not.

This bill is not a sham. It's not a bill ramrodded over the consent of the American public. It is not a bill created by and for the elite.

If anything it's a bill of compassion, a positive step forward in today's world. A chance to build a healthy and educated society.

What's a sham is the open market, trickle down theory that the conservatives monger. Aien't no such thing. The rich get richer, the middle class disappears and the poor, well they're still stuck in an impoverished niche.

The result being a few percent of the American population gets to reap the majority of the RIGHTS stipulated in our Constitution. What a fraud!